- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to propose scheduling time for a parliamentary debate on the fishing industry.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2025
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when Transport Scotland plans to publish the next version of its Disability and Transport report, which was last published in 2023, and whether it will commit to publishing updated versions of the publication each year, taking account of the annual data made available through the Scottish Household Survey and other transport statistics.
Answer
The next edition of the Disability and Transport publication will be published by Transport Scotland later in March this year.
It is intended that Transport Scotland will update the report on an annual basis in future. However, this is dependent on the availability of data supporting meaningful annual analysis.
Decisions on publication frequency will continue to be made in consultation with the Disability and Transport Monitoring and Evaluation Group: a steering group for Transport Scotland’s work in this area, which includes representatives from the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS), Disability Equality Scotland, and Transport Scotland.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 3 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that SportScotland
is making staff redundancies, and what its position is on whether this is in
relation to reported costs incurred as a result of internal investigations
involving Cricket Scotland.
Answer
There is no correlation between sportscotland’s voluntary severance scheme and the Changing the Boundaries report and independent referrals investigation.
The referrals process underlined the failings of the governing body over recent years, and Cricket Scotland, having fully accepted all actions and recommendations for improvement, is committed to delivering on those. We recognise the progress that has been made and sportscotland is providing continued support to Cricket Scotland to ensure the sport can move forward with confidence.
sportscotland is not making staff redundant. Their severance scheme is a voluntary scheme and it is an individual’s choice if they wish to apply. The scheme is intended to mitigate financial challenges facing the sector including the unprecedented levels of inflation experienced over the past 3-4 years, and the UK Government’s planned increase in employer national insurance contributions. The severance scheme will enable sportscotland to maximise the impact of investment in sport and physical activity.
The Scottish Government is greatly concerned by the UK Government’s planned increase in Employer National Insurance Contributions and the damaging implications for businesses, public services, and communities. We are calling on the UK Government to reverse the planned increase.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out on the impact on its four strategic priorities of the UK Government’s decision to raise employer national insurance contributions on public and third sector bodies.
Answer
I have raised concerns with the UK Treasury about the impact on public services if this reserved tax increase is not fully funded. The Scottish Government has published updated estimates of the impact of the increase in employer national insurance contributions on the public sector in Scotland. These estimates indicate the combined impact on the public sector and commissioned services is over £700 million. If the UK Government’s reported allocation is all that is provided, the Chancellor will be short-changing services the public depend on by over £400 million. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations estimates that the third sector in Scotland will face additional costs of £75 million per year, plus wider inflation.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how important the third sector is to its priority of eradicating child poverty, and what impact (a) inflation has had and (b) the UK Government’s decision to raise employer national insurance contributions will have on that sector’s ability to achieve this goal.
Answer
Eradicating child poverty in Scotland is a national mission and this Government’s top priority.
The third sector is a key partner in this work. The Scottish Government greatly values the important role of Scotland’s third sector in providing support for children and families across Scotland – empowering people and enabling communities to thrive – and as a critical friend to both local and national government, helping to guide the action needed.
The latest wave of the longitudinal survey we support through SCVO shows that many third sector organisations are feeling the pressure of rising costs and inflation. Overall, 94% of organisations reported facing challenges, up from 92% in summer 2024.
It is not right that these organisations should be disadvantaged by UK Government policy changes. The Scottish Government has called upon the UKG to take an ‘actual costs’ approach to compensation for increased costs as a result of the increase in employer’s national insurance costs.
In the absence of full funding we will be very restricted in the extent to which we can respond.
We recognise this may mean continued challenges for our third sector partners. We are aiming to assist the sector by improving notification of continued funding to third sector organisations and increasing the number of two year grants we can offer as part of our commitment to Fairer Funding.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 24 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the potential
cost to the third sector in Scotland of the UK Government’s decision to raise
employer national insurance contributions, and what plans it has to help alleviate any additional
costs, including inflationary costs, arising from this decision that are facing voluntary organisations that are in
receipt of it grants or contracts from it.
Answer
The actual cost to the third sector of the increase in Employer National Insurance contributions is difficult to determine given the diversity in size and employment numbers across the sector. However, in the joint letter from the First Minister and President of COSLA to the Chancellor on 3 January, which was supported by SCVO and a range of third sector organisations, they refer to SCVO’s estimate that the third sector will face additional costs of £75 million per year, plus wider inflation. We will continue to monitor the impact on the sector through the longitudinal survey we support through SCVO.
The Scottish Government has called upon the UKG to take an ‘actual costs’ approach to compensation for increased costs as a result of the increase in employer’s national insurance costs. In the absence of full funding we will be very restricted in the extent to which we can respond.
We recognise this may mean continued challenges for our third sector partners. We are aiming to assist the sector by improving notification of continued funding to third sector organisations and increasing the number of two year grants we can offer as part of our commitment to Fairer Funding.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its plans for a pilot initiative to support voluntary organisations that (a) deliver essential services and (b) contribute to its priority of eradicating child poverty.
Answer
I recognise many of the challenges faced by the third sector and continue to work with my officials to champion the voice of the Sector across Government and ensure that the vital work of third sector organisations is well understood and valued as part of a thriving Scottish society.
The Scottish Government news release Fairer funding for charities - gov.scot provides details of the announcement on 5 February 2025 of the new Fairer Funding multi-year funding pilot.
In his address to third sector organisations at The Gathering, the First Minister stated that this signalled a clear direction of travel to increasing the number of multi-year funding agreements across the third sector.
The Pilot is part of a package of policy measures under the Fairer Funding heading, which also includes improvements to the grant making process, more timely notifications, rationalising reporting requirements and improving grant conditions.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which two local authority areas have been identified as areas for the planned homelessness prevention pilots, in light of reports that the pilots are due to commence in spring 2025.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2025
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of voluntary sector grants are (a) currently and (b) expected to be multi-year as a result of its Fairer Funding commitment.
Answer
The Fairer Funding pilot consists of grants to the third sector in Scotland totalling £61.7 million in 2025-26 and £63.2 million in 2026-27. The challenging financial position means that the total volume of multi-year funding agreements is balanced against other priorities and our ability to take a measured financial risk within each portfolio area. However, the sums involved are substantial and have been welcomed by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and by the third sector organisations involved. The Pilot is an important first step to move forward with multi-year funding.
Work is underway to improve our visibility of grants issued by the Scottish Government to the third sector. The previous electronic accounting system did not reliably classify whether or not grant spend is allocated to the third sector. This therefore means that collating grant information remains a manual exercise across all portfolios whilst the reporting framework associated with the new system (Oracle Cloud) is fully developed. Oracle Cloud was adopted in October 2024 and is being used to make payments made to grant recipients. However, for effective analysis, a data set of an entire financial year or more is likely to be required to produce meaningful insights.
- Asked by: Jeremy Balfour, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards the ambition to achieve Fairer Funding for the voluntary sector by 2026, and how progress towards this ambition will be scrutinised.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises that the third sector needs stability and certainty in order to thrive and to help the Government to deliver on its policy agenda. We have listened to the views of the Sector and have committed to progress Fairer Funding within the bounds of affordability. This includes implementing a multi-year funding pilot totalling over £120 million for 2025-26 and 2026-27, making improvements to the grant making process, providing more timely notifications, rationalising reporting requirements, improving grant conditions and securing better grant management data. In conjunction with third sector umbrella bodies and grantee organisations, officials are developing a system for evaluating the effectiveness of the Fairer Funding pilot with a view to identifying learning and making continuous improvement.
